A year on from Diogo Jota and Andre Silva’s tragic deaths, ECHO reporter Ryan Paton recalls his three days in Gondomar speaking to locals about what the footballing brothers meant to their community
Today marks a year since the death of Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva(Image: Liverpool ECHO)
It’s strange how something can simultaneously feel like it happened just yesterday, as well as a lifetime ago. Time feels different in the wake of a tragedy and it’s unlikely Merseyside, and the wider footballing community, will ever be able to truly come to terms with the deaths of Diogo Jota and Andre Silva.
Today marks a year since the brothers’ lives were tragically cut short in a car accident and I vividly remember heading in for my shift at the Liverpool ECHO on the morning of July 3, 2025. Working in news means a sudden change to the agenda is something you should always be ready for, but the message that a beloved Liverpool star had died at just 28 years old was one of those rare incidents that felt too incomprehensible, too cruel, to be reality.
A life taken too soon will always be upsetting, but it was even more heartbreaking that Jota’s death came just 11 days after the event that should have defined his summer, when he married childhood sweetheart Rute Cardoso. The devastating loss sparked an outpouring of emotion across the world, as people united to mourn the legacy of a player who connected on a much deeper level than just football.
Jota represented joy on the pitch, as the bravery, guile and defiance with which he approached the game made him an easy player for a Liverpool crowd to fall in love with. The only thing you can do when dealt with such a harrowing nightmare is pay tribute to what made them special – and the ECHO wanted to do justice to the “forever number 20” by finding out about the roots that made him so loved in Merseyside.
I travelled to Jota and Silva’s native Gondomar to learn more about their beginnings and spoke to a community in mourning, who treasured the way the brothers never lost sight of their roots. Everyone I spoke to in this sleepy suburb, located 7km east of Porto, had their own connection to the family – and my first stop off at Gondomar Sport Clube’s stadium, Estádio de São Miguel, laid bare why Jota’s story mattered so much to the region.
The mural at Gondomar Sport Clube became a memorial site in the days after Jota and Silva’s death
The Estádio de São Miguel is unassuming from the outside and it was remarkable to think Jota played at this fourth tier side up until he was 17. The forward’s story is a total outlier in Portuguese football as most stars, who go on to represent the national side at the top of the game, are snatched up in their early years by the big clubs such as Benfica, Sporting Lisbon and Porto.
This unique career trajectory meant the infectious street footballing energy, so loved in Liverpool, never left Jota, and his loyalty was always valued by his home community. The Gondomar academy was opened in Jota’s name in 2022 and a mural, featuring an image of him as a child in the Gondomar kit and one as an adult representing the national side, is emblazoned on the wall of the stadium.
In the days after his death, this became a memorial site where people laid tributes and a local named Celia Almeida spoke to the ECHO and paid homage to what Jota represented. Through tears, she said: “He was always the boy from Gondomar.”
“Nao e importante de onde vimos mas sim para onde vamos” is the message written underneath the mural. In English this translates to “It’s not important where we come from, but where we’re going” and Gondomar natives, Rita Silva and Rita Santos, told the ECHO summed up the meaning behind the quote.
Rita Silva and Rita Santos were at the chapel to pay their respects to Diogo Jota(Image: Liverpool Echo)
Speaking to us outside the wake, held later that evening at the Capelas da Ressurreicao, Ms Silva said Jota was an inspirational figure who transcended football. She added: “He was the boy who got out.
“This is a small city and all of us dream to win in life and go to be the best in every work field we can. He got out – he was the one who got out and he was an example for everyone.
“He was a kid like us, he went to our school, he played in our fields and he won in life.” Ms Santos added: “He set a goal to achieve. He represents everything because he was a lot of things, he’s not just a football player, he’s a person like us. He was so humble.”
The brothers were laid to rest the following day on Saturday, July 5 at the same Igreja Matriz de Gondomar church where Jota had married Rute just two weeks earlier. The ECHO was in attendance from a designated media spot, in accordance with the family’s wishes, so that members of the public could pay their respects, and locals lined the streets, hours before the moving service started at 10am.
The church where Diogo Jota and Andre Silva were laid to rest(Image: Phil Harris / Daily Mirror)
Many figures from the footballing community turned out to pay their respects and the poignant moment when Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson lead a delegation of Liverpool players into the church is one that will never leave me. The last time I’d seen these people in the flesh was when Liverpool had lifted the Premier League title and seeing these figures in such polar opposite circumstances, as they held floral tributes bearing the numbers of Silva and Jota, hit like a hammer blow.
As the dust settled on an emotional morning and everyone in attendance at the service had left the premises of the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar, the mood strikingly shifted when a family arrived for a wedding that was set to take place in the same church later that afternoon. While this initially felt surreal, a happy family wedding is exactly the sort of thing that should have been happening on a sunny Saturday in Portugal. It was what took place before that was unnatural and impossible to process.
Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson lead a Liverpool delegation with floral tributes bearing the numbers worn by Diogo Jota and Andre Silva(Image: Getty Images)
Gondomar was a grieving community, but it was heartening to see the humanity on show amongst the locals during my three days in the city, as everyone I spoke to was keen to share their memories, and pay tribute to what Jota and Silva meant to their region. This weight of emotion was particularly felt in the small of row of houses off the Rua da Minhoteira where Jota and Silva grew up.
I travelled to this neighbourhood on the Sunday and spoke to Cosme Oliveira, who lived next door to the brothers’ grandad. He shared fond memories of playing in the front yard with Jota and Silva when they were all growing up as children as he told the ECHO: “We played from the garage door to the main gate.
“We played small tournaments. I remember back in 2010. We had the FIFA World Cup in South Africa, we had this idea that we could make our own tournament. He was Portugal. I was Argentina, Andre was Brazil.”
Holding on to the happy memories, Cosme recalled: “Almost every summer, they were going to my house or we’d go into their house to play FIFA or ride our bikes to the town, or play football in the yard. His grandma was sad we destroyed the fences. That was the good memories that stayed. I think that’s what we have to hold.”
A football pitch at the bottom of the R. da Minhoteira, near where Diogo Jota and Andre Silva grew up
It was particularly poignant to see the enclosed space of his grandad’s yard where Jota honed the unique dribbling style that would go on to capture the hearts of fans on Merseyside and lead to so many memorable goals. Throughout his rise from the concrete pavement of the Rua Da Minhoteira to the iconic turf of Anfield, neither Jota or Silva changed from those boys playing football in their grandad’s yard.
Cosme said: “They both are the meaning of humble. The passion for football. They never lost their roots here. They never forgot this little town and what we represent. The good memories that we have with them here will always live.”
It is these good memories that we continue to treasure in Merseyside too, as Liverpool and Gondomar will forever be united as communities in mourning. Cosme is grateful for the way his childhood friend was embraced in our region as he said: “You guys always received him well, so I think we all have to thank you for the way you welcomed our boy in your land.”
Jota’s memory will not be forgotten anytime soon as his name was sung in the 20th minute of every game last season and a fitting memorial was unveiled to the brothers last night outside Anfield. It’s gestures like this that help us continue to remember – and are the only thing we have to hold on to in the face of an incomprehensible tragedy like the one that took place a year ago today.
A memorial in honour of Diogo Jota and Andre Silva was unveiled yesterday(Image: Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
